By an instinctive gesture, the guerillero gave a pull at his bridle, and made his horse recoil without replying.
The soldiers and the officer himself crossed themselves in terror, and muttered in a low voice—
"El Rayo! El Rayo!"
"I asked you a question," the unknown said, after a few moments of expectation.
The forty odd men who surrounded him piteously hung their heads, and, gradually falling back, considerably enlarged the circle, as they cordially felt no desire to enter into a discussion with this mysterious personage.
Don Andrés felt hope return to his heart; a secret foreboding warned him that the sudden arrival of this stranger, though it might not entirely change his position, would at least produce a more advantageous phase for himself; moreover, he fancied that he could confusedly recall the stranger's voice, though it was impossible for him to remember where he had heard it. Hence, while everybody else fell back in terror, he, on the contrary, approached the stranger with an instinctive eagerness, for which he could not account.
Don Jesús Domínguez, the commander of the escort, had disappeared; he had fled disgracefully.